Calibration of a cylindrical RF capacitance probe

The calibration is considered of an RF antenna capacitance probe carried aboard the RAE-1 spacecraft and the correction of the probe for external effects, believed to be primarily due to local positive ion sheaths and/or photoelectron sheaths surrounding the antenna. The RAE-1 spacecraft was launched in July 1968 into a 5850-km. Circular orbit of 121-degree inclination and carried several antenna and radiometer systems covering a frequency range of 0.2 to 9.2 MHz for radio astronomical studies. The RF capacitance probe measurements discussed utilized a 37-meter electric dipole antenna formed by two monopoles made of silver-coated beryllium-copper alloy tapes formed into hollow cylindrical tubes 1.3 cm in diameter

Determination of the η\eta-η′\eta^\prime mixing angle

We extract $\eta$-$\eta^\prime$ mixing angle and the ratios of decay constants of light pseudoscalar mesons $\pi^0$, $\eta$ and $\eta^\prime$ using recently available BaBar measurements on $\eta$-photon and $\eta^\prime$-photon transition form factors and more accurate experimental data for the masses and two-photon decay widths of the light pseduoscalar mesons.Comment: 5 pages, revtex, no figures, accepted for publication as a Brief Report in Physical Review

Nuclear rocket shielding methods, modification, updating, and input data preparation. Volume 2 - Compilation of neutron and photon cross section data Final progress report

Compilation of neutron and photon cross section data using computer programs developed for nuclear rocket shielding methods, modification, updating, and input data preparation - Vol.

Fluctuation properties of laser light after interaction with an atomic system: comparison between two-level and multilevel atomic transitions

The complex internal atomic structure involved in radiative transitions has an effect on the spectrum of fluctuations (noise) of the transmitted light. A degenerate transition has different properties in this respect than a pure two-level transition. We investigate these variations by studying a certain transition between two degenerate atomic levels for different choices of the polarization state of the driving laser. For circular polarization, corresponding to the textbook two-level atom case, the optical spectrum shows the characteristic Mollow triplet for strong laser drive, while the corresponding noise spectrum exhibits squeezing in some frequency ranges. For a linearly polarized drive, corresponding to the case of a multilevel system, additional features appear in both optical and noise spectra. These differences are more pronounced in the regime of a weakly driven transition: whereas the two-level case essentially exhibits elastic scattering, the multilevel case has extra noise terms related to spontaneous Raman transitions. We also discuss the possibility to experimentally observe these predicted differences for the commonly encountered case where the laser drive has excess noise in its phase quadrature.Comment: New version. Accepted for publication in Physical Review

Global stability analysis of birhythmicity in a self-sustained oscillator

We analyze global stability properties of birhythmicity in a self-sustained system with random excitations. The model is a multi-limit cycles variation of the van der Pol oscillatorintroduced to analyze enzymatic substrate reactions in brain waves. We show that the two frequencies are strongly influenced by the nonlinear coefficients $\alpha$ and $\beta$. With a random excitation, such as a Gaussian white noise, the attractor's global stability is measured by the mean escape time $\tau$ from one limit-cycle. An effective activation energy barrier is obtained by the slope of the linear part of the variation of the escape time $\tau$ versus the inverse noise-intensity 1/D. We find that the trapping barriers of the two frequencies can be very different, thus leaving the system on the same attractor for an overwhelming time. However, we also find that the system is nearly symmetric in a narrow range of the parameters.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, to appear on Choas, 201

Nuclear rocket shielding methods, modification, updating, and input data preparation. Volume 1 - Synopsis of methods and results of analysis Final progress report

Analysis of data systems and computer programs for nuclear rocket shielding methods, modification, updating, and data input preparation - Vol.

Magnetic Field Tomography

Neutral atoms may be trapped via the interaction of their magnetic dipole moment with magnetic field gradients. One of the possible schemes is the cloverleaf trap. It is often desirable to have at hand a fast and precise technique for measuring the magnetic field distribution. We introduce a novel diagnostic tool for instantaneous imaging the equipotential lines of a magnetic field within a region of space (the vacuum recipient) that is not accessible to massive probes. Our technique is based on spatially resolved observation of the fluorescence emitted by a hot beam of sodium atoms crossing a thin slice of resonant laser light within the magnetic field region to be investigated. The inhomogeneous magnetic field spatially modulates the resonance condition between the Zeeman-shifted hyperfine sublevels and the laser light and therefore the amount of scattered photons. We demonstrate this technique by mapping the field of our cloverleaf trap in three dimensions under various conditions.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure

"Oxide-free" tip for scanning tunneling microscopy

We report a new tip for scanning tunneling microscopy and a tip repair procedure that allows one to reproducibly obtain atomic images of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite with previously inoperable tips. The tips are shown to be relatively oxide-free and highly resistant to oxidation. The tips are fabricated with graphite by two distinct methods